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Productivity of Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Panel Data Analysis

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  • MORIKAWA Masayuki

Abstract

Using panel data from original surveys conducted in June 2020 and July 2021, this study analyzes the changes in adoption and productivity of working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, the results indicate that the mean WFH productivity has improved by more than ten percentage points in the past year, although it is still approximately 20% lower compared to when working in the office. 1) "Selection effect" arising from the exit of workers with relatively low WFH productivity from the WFH practice and 2) the improvement in WFH productivity through the "learning effect" contributed almost equally to the productivity growth of WFH. Second, additional working hours extracted from reduced commuting are approximately 3.0% and 0.7% of the total labor input of WFH workers and all workers, respectively. Even after adjusting for additional working hours from reduced commuting, the conclusion of relatively low productivity at home remains essentially unchanged. Third, the percentage of employees who want to continue frequent WFH after the end of the pandemic has increased substantially, suggesting that WFH may become a popular workstyle.

Suggested Citation

  • MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2021. "Productivity of Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Panel Data Analysis," Discussion papers 21078, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:21078
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tanaka, Kiyoyasu, 2023. "What hinders digital communication? Evidence from foreign firms in Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Gilles Duranton & Jessie Handbury, 2023. "COVID and Cities, Thus Far," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 29(2), pages 6-52, October.
    4. Kevin H C Cheng, 2022. "The Ontology of Work during Pandemic Lockdown: A Semantic Network Analytical Approach," Merits, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Jungsuk Kim & Gemma Estrada & Yothin Jinjarak & Donghyun Park & Shu Tian, 2022. "ICT and Economic Resilience during COVID-19: Cross-Country Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    6. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2022. "Productivity Dynamics of Work from Home since the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a panel of firm surveys," Discussion papers 22061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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